'American Idol' Top 5 thought the elimination twist was 'stupid' too

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The reaction to the big twist producers introduced on “American Idol” Top 5 elimination night, which saw 18-year-old Florida singer (and Judges’ Save recipient) Sam Woolf sent home, was just as negative among the finalists as it seemed to be on Twitter Thursday night.

“It was just, like, a stupid idea, to be real,” Top 4 finalist Alex
Preston tells Zap2it and a small group of reporters following the
shocking-but-not-really-because-the-contestants-wouldn’t-play-along
elimination show. “It was going to be the same outcome no matter what,
so it was a crappy
situation to be in, especially with all the pressure we’re under
already, just throwing that on us.”

The producers offered the Idols the opportunity to let whoever got the least amount of votes during Top 5 week stick around — but two singers would go home the next week. Three voted “yes,” but since it had to be unanimous, the two “no” votes meant the show played out like it normally would have and Woolf went home.

Jena Irene says that in the approximately 50 seconds they all had to
make their decision, she thought about what it would be like next week
after each potential scenario.

“I thought about both situations,” she says. “I thought if I circled yes
to keep the group together it was going to be even more nerve-wracking next week
because were going to have two people going home out of five. … We were already prepared for
one person to leave.”

She voted “no,” and although the second dissenter wouldn’t out themselves, considering Caleb Johnson, Jessica Meuse and Sam Woolf all admitted they voted “yes,” it’s pretty clear Preston was the second one. But he did say that he didn’t expect the lowest vote-getter to be Woolf.

“Honestly, I thought I would go home before Sam,” he says.

Johnson says he thinks he would’ve voted differently if he’d had a little more time to think about it. “I put ‘yes,'” he admits, “but I actually think that [what
happened] was the right decision, looking back. In hindsight, we should
have all just let it be the way it was supposed to be, the natural way
however the votes go.”

Meuse called out the producers for their blatant manipulation. “I think it was so ‘Hunger Games’ for ‘American Idol’ to do that
tonight and I almost had to pull out the berries and be like ‘Okay guys
can we go?’,” she jokes. “Nobody is ever happy about Thursday
and it was just a lot of dramatic effect.”

What did you think about the twist, “Idol” fans? Are you surprised it was Jena and Alex who voted “no”?